Dunedin city councillors could today approve an appeal of an Otago Regional Council decision that stripped the city of a representative.
Otago regional councillors voted unanimously last month to reduce the number of Dunedin representatives from six to five and increase Dunstan — made up of the Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes district areas — from three to four.
When they did, city councillor Sophie Barker said she hoped the city would appeal.
Now, included in a report to city councillors today, a draft appeal said the city council’s "strong view" was that the Dunedin constituency should remain at six councillors.
The city council did not accept arguments made by the regional council for the change and argued instead the Mosgiel Taieri and Strath Taieri community board areas should be moved within the Dunedin constituency area so the city council’s boundary was contained within one regional council constituency.
At present, the two community board areas west of the city are contained within the regional council’s Molyneux constituency, otherwise made up of the Clutha district.
"DCC acknowledges that while part of the Mosgiel Taieri area is rural, it is predominantly a large and increasingly urban population and is the area that has seen the biggest residential growth in Dunedin in recent years.
"Mosgiel is much more than a rural support centre."
There were better connections between Mosgiel Taieri and Strath Taieri and Dunedin, than with Balclutha, the draft appeal said.
"The growth of the Dunstan constituency does need to be accommodated in the representation arrangements for the region, but not at the cost of the Dunedin constituency," it said.
The accompanying staff report rejected the argument rural interests such as sheep and beef farming and other rural activities aligned Mosgiel with Balclutha.
The council also did not accept the argument from the regional council that separate flood and drainage assets created "a community of interest" for Mosgiel and Balclutha.
Further, the regional council’s report noted "in the recent floods one of the comments that has been made was that the response communications were too focused on Dunedin rather than the Taieri and Clutha areas".
"The council rejects that comment and notes that the emergency response from Dunedin City was not only focused on the areas of concern but also was in frequent contact with representatives from the Mosgiel Taieri and Strath Taieri communities."
The staff report said the regional council had an obligation to forward any appeals received to the Local Government Commission.
The Local Government Commission would decide the next steps and make a binding determination by April 11, it said.
The city council could also decide not to appeal the regional council decision, the staff report said.
